Sewing needle



Aug '25; F. G. HENLEY ,4

SEWING NEEDLE Filed March 29, 1968 INVENTOR. #125052/016 G. Hf/VOX51/2421 4! MML United States Patent 3,525,460 SEWING NEEDLE Frederick G.Hendy, 160 College Parkway, Winooski Park, Vt. 05404 Filed Mar. 29,1968, Ser. No. 717,316 Int. Cl. A41h 31/00 U.S. Cl. 223-102 1 ClaimABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A needle having an eye apertured to permitreception of a thread moving transverse the axial extent of the needle,said aperture having its bounding edges shaped to retain the threaddespite the passage of a thread-bearing needle through one or morelayers of cloth in either direction.

It is an object of this invention to provide a sewing needle which maybe threaded Without resort to the ordinarily troublesome task ofinserting a thread longitudinally through the necessarily limited areaof the needle eye.

It is a further object of this invention to provide in a needle asaforesaid an eye having a lateral thread entryway so arranged that oncethe thread is engaged in the needle eye it cannot be dislodgedinvoluntarily by passage of the needle through one or more layers ofcloth in either direction.

The above and other objects will be made clear from the followingdetailed description taken in connection with the annexed drawing, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a preferred form of needle;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the needle of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view of FIG. 1, showing the eye on a greatly enlarged scale;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of another form of needle;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of the needle of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing the eye of the needle on agreatly enlarged scale.

The origin of the conventional sewing needle with the conventional eyeis lost in the midst of antiquity and almost as venerable are theefforts to improve the needle by making it easier to thread. The problemof aligning a miniscule eye with a microscopically thin thread andsuccessfully introducing the thread into the eye is too Well known andobvious to require discussion here. Very obviously, if the thread wereformed into a loop, the bight of which could pass into the eye of theneedle transverse the length of the needle, it would be a much easieroperation and the patented art shows attacks on the problem going back ahundred years or more. These efforts, however, have been without efiecton the commercial market, so that While the needle one buys today may bestiffer, stronger, more highly tempered, and more corrosion-resistantthan those purchased in previous generations, they remain just asconventional in form and just as difiicult to thread as those of ahundred years ago.

The present invention makes the same attack on the problem as in thepast, namely, the provision for side loading. It is applicantscontention, however, that his needle not only achieves side loading butin achieving this overcomes most of the defects and deficiencies ofprevious designs having the same general objective.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a needle 10 is provided with an eye 12, the eyebeing formed, as shown in FIG. 2, by piercing a flattened portion of thestock of the needle. In FIG. 3, one side of the eye 12 formssubstantially a prolongation of the needle body, as shown at 14. The

3,525,460 Patented Aug. 25, 1970 "ice opposite side of the eye 12 has anopening 16 bounded by curved portions 18 and 20 formed of the metalofthe needle and defining oppositely presented hook portions lying inthe plane of the flattened portion. The thread may be introduced throughthe opening 16 and moved to pass either of the portions 18 or 20. Ineither case, such engagement prevents accidental withdrawal of thethread through the opening 16 and will hold regardless of the directionof the passage of the needle through the cloth. It will be noted thatthe elements 18 and 20 offer no resistance to the passage of the needlethrough the cloth in either direction nor is the head of the needlecontaining the eye enlarged beyond the cross section of the needle.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown a needle having an eye 52 formedby a flattened portion of the needle similar to that described inconnection with FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. In this case, one side of the eye 52is continuous as at 54 precisely like the portion 14 of FIG. 3. Theopposite side of the eye has a lateral opening 56 inclined inwardly andforwardly. The opening 56 is a complete and permanent opening bounded bya portion 58 extending from the body of the needle and having a roundedend 60. The other side of the opening 56 is bounded by a finger 62 whichoverlies the portion 58- but is permanently spaced therefrom and has arounded end 64. A thread is slipped through the opening 56 which, whileit remains open at all times, presents virtually no opportunity for thethread accidentally to slip back out through the opening 56.

In general configuration, the forms of FIGS. 1 and 4 are the same, thatis, there is no pronounced enlargement of the eye and of the needle noris any resistance offered to passage of the needle through the cloth ineither direction.

While certain specific details have been disclosed herein, it is notintended to limit this invention to the precise details herein shown anddescribed but only as set forth in the subjoined claim.

What I claim is:

1. A needle having a body portion and a flattened eye portion at one endof the body portion, said eye portion being of less thickness than saidbody portion but of substantially equal width with said body portion,with all portions of said eye portion being coplanar, the perimeter ofsaid eye portion having an opening at one side to admit thread movingsubstantially transverse to the length of said body portion, and meansto restrain said thread from moving out of said eye portion through saidopening, wherein the respective opposite parts of said eye portion atsaid opening are oppositely-bent in arcuate hook forms adjacent saidopening and wherein the bight portions of the hook forms are spaced fromeach other to define a thread passageway.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,031,116 4/1962 Hunter et al223102 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,110 1/1891 England. 384,457 11/1923 Germany.487,395 11/1953 Italy. 1,013,362 4/1952 France.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner G. H. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner

